Approach road of newly built bridge collapses

The approach road of newly built Maya Bridge, the largest one of the district over the Maya River in Nurabad union of Charfashion upazila under the district collapsed on Monday, hampering road communication of a large area with the upazila headquarters.

Strong tidal surges caused by cyclone Komen caused collapse of nearly seven metres of the approach road adjoining a box culvert before the Maya bridge over a narrow canal around 10:00pm on Monday, locals said.

"Following the collapse of the road on Monday night, high tide on Tuesday damaged it further. As a temporary measure to keep the communication normal, we have planned to make two slope protection wings of 22 metres each and two RCC retaining walls of 15 metres each on the two side of the box culvert," said Md Solaiman, Charfashion upazila engineer of LGED.

"We will send a proposal for a 60-metre-long RCC girder bridge to protect the approach road from tidal water in the long run," he added.

Earlier on May 8, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed MP accompanied by Deputy Minister for Forest and Environment Abdullah Al Islam Jakob inaugurated the 378.40-metre-long bridge, connecting western zone of Charfashion upazila to its headquarters.

The cost of the bridge, including connecting roads and two nearby small bridges, stood at nearly Tk 34 crore.

People of Nazrul Nagar, Char Kalmi, Nurabad and Char Kukri Mukri are the beneficiary of this bridge, said Md Rezaul Karim, upazila nirbahi officer of Charfashion.

Construction firm Nabarun Traders built the bridge under the supervision of Charfashion upazila LGED.